Let There Be Hope
I am not usually one to publicly weigh in on big political issues…well not yet! My husband has long joked that one day he sees me going for a political position and he will be my campaign manager….it’s growing on me too thinking maybe the Minister of Health?
On a more real and serious note this week has been a historical turning point in the world. As of yet we do not know the implications of this but what has resulted is a global outcry and with it fear, threats of violence, racism, sexism, anxiety and worry.
What do we tell our children?
I have pondered this as I am sure many of you have as well.
It was my four-year-old that held the answer for me – my children always have the answers.
As I tucked him in bed last night he looked at me with his big brown eyes and said in the most innocent voice “mummy I love you will you marry me?”.
To which, just as quietly I said to him “of course my darling.”
You see in his little world, he yet does not know of the fear and terror sweeping the world.
In his little world it is perfectly acceptable that when you love someone you want to marry them. I do not want to take that away from him.
I want him to have hope. I want him to have love, what-ever form that comes in.
Fear and violence, sexism and racism have ALWAYS existed. This is not new for 2016. Do not think that New Zealand, my home country, is immune to this either. We just need to look at our levels of domestic violence, some of the highest in the world to know this. Let’s not start on the racism - married to a man born in India you would be shocked to know how rife it is here in. As for sexism? One day I will write a book on my pathway as a woman with young children in the workforce, I can tell you it’s not always pretty.
As I said, none of what we currently fear is new.
What is concerning, and present long before the 2016 American Presidential Election, is that as a society our communities are drifting apart. I read it every day in research. We experience in our own lives. I worry about this and the future all the time, more so this week than others. But working together is what we want to cultivate if we are ever to face what is to come.
I am not sure how to explain the events of this week to my boys but I do know is that we can teach them hope, gratitude, and to never wait. What this time has taught us is that we have no idea what is around the corner. So do not wait on your dreams. Go after them with fierce determination.
There will never be the right time.
There will never be enough time or money.
I would know. Doing a doctoral thesis, starting a business literally from the ground up and having two small children along the way, I can promise you that neither time nor money existed.
Let’s not lose sight of what we already have. Let there be hope not fear. Let us work together, build our communities, not break them. Let us teach our boys how to be strong men, good men, men that lead others in an empowering way. Let us teach our girls that you can do and be anything that want to be and to never let anyone tell you otherwise.
And
Don’t wait – ever – for your dreams.
xxx Dr Julie Bhosale